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B.C. adds 19,800 jobs in February, unemployment rate at 6.3%

Canada added a total of 50700 jobs with Ontario contributing maximum to the higher-than-expected numbers

People line up at the Resource Canada offices in Montreal on April 9, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

A surprise spike last month in restaurant and hotel jobs in B.C. is all thanks to one great Canadian pastime, says an industry spokesman.

Watching hockey.

Ian Tostenson, president of the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said that when game-on rumours floated in early January, restaurants began either hiring back laid-off employees or adding extra staffers.

“The numbers are really good and they are definitely hockey-centric,” he said referring to Statistics Canada data released Friday that showed an unexpected surge in jobs in B.C. and Canada in February.

“We’re all watching hockey again ... and it goes all along the supply chain — from beer and wine suppliers to chicken wings — they all felt the upswing last month.”

Statistics Canada said employment in B.C. rose 0.9 per cent last month, adding 19,800 jobs, most of them full-time positions. The unemployment rate, however, remained unchanged at 6.3 per cent.

The gain was the second largest in Canada after Ontario and followed a month that saw B.C. shed 16,000 jobs, mostly part-time and in construction, health care and social assistance

Provincewide, the accommodation and food services industry added 6,100 jobs from January to February, said Statistics Canada analyst Vincent Ferrao. In Metro Vancouver alone, 8,000 jobs were added, most of those in retail and restaurants.

Ferrao noted that B.C.’s accommodation and food services industry had 185,000 employees in February, up from 176,000 in December. That’s a spike of around 9,000 employees.

The food services industry, already feeling the pinch after the HST added an extra seven-per-cent tax to meals, took a major hit during the NHL lockout, said Tostenson, and no one was hiring.

“What hockey does is take a flat market, which is where the industry is right now, and it will add that two or three per cent it needs to make a profit,” he said.

Tostenson expects another lift in April when the HST is eliminated, and, he says with a laugh: “The Canucks move into the playoffs.”

Marta Lozynska, 27, a server at the Lamplighter Pub in Gastown, saw her hours bumped up from part-time to full-time after the Canucks returned to the ice.

“I went from a handful of shifts here and there to full-time status,” said Lozynska, who recently moved to Vancouver from Toronto. “You definitely see an increase in business. I’m new to the city, so finding employment was difficult. So this is obviously a benefit and an asset in my life, filling my work week with as many shifts as I can.”

Lamplighter general manager Chris Badyk said he hired five new servers when hockey resumed, although pub expansion also played a part.

“We knew the floodgates would open and that Vancouver would come alive again,” said Badyk. “There’s been a 20-per-cent increase (in customers) on weekdays and we’re not a sports bar.”

Economists cautioned that after half a year of flat-lining, the economy isn’t likely to bounce back after one month of job growth.

Helmut Pastrick, chief economist for Central Credit Union, was surprised at the significant increase in the numbers, but said the province would need a few more months of growth before it sees the economy on the upswing.

“Certainly in B.C. we’ve seen a mediocre performance and I expected to see that trend continue into February,” he said. “My prediction for March is that I would not expect a repeat. Certainly, it’s welcome news and hopefully it will indicate an ongoing improvement, but that remains to be seen.”

Aside from accommodation and food services, B.C.’s job gains were spread out in retail and wholesale, finance and insurance and real estate and leasing, said Ferrao.

Most of the jobs added went to women over age 25 and young people aged 15 to 24.

Ferrao said there were also increases in education, health care and social assistance jobs, while manufacturing, technology and natural resources saw the biggest losses.

B.C. Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Pat Bell welcomed Friday’s report, saying, “There are many reasons to be confident about B.C.’s economy. We are bringing new dollars into the province through increased investment and more exports to trading partners in Asia and beyond.”

Even though there were reductions in the manufacturing, technology and natural resources sectors, he said in an email, “we expect to see these kind of month-to-month fluctuations.”

He said the long-term trend and comparisons with last year show modest growth in both the technology and natural resources sectors.

But New Democrat finance critic Bruce Ralston said the province has lost jobs since September 2011, when Premier Christy Clark launched the B.C. Jobs Plan — a program Ralston has called “a complete failure.”

“February saw some modest growth in jobs across the province, but since September 2011 we’re still down nearly 30,000 jobs in the private sector.”

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